... she was said to have been originally interred in this cemetery, but that her headstone was moved to the Old South Haven Church Cemetery (#4) in the 1930's because of vandalism, where it now can be found.

(1939 description) "Former Homan private graveyard, about 500 feet south of Montauk Highway, (Route 27), on the east side of an old hedgerow, and about opposite the old homestead of William Osborn, now (1939) owned by Charles Engelhaupt, South Haven. Only three stones from this graveyard were moved to Cem. 4, South Haven. The other stones are said to have been destroyed or buried."

The above 1939 description is likely inaccurate. Most of the gravestones, and perhaps some of the remains, were relocated to the Oaklawn Cemetery (#21), Brookhaven Hamlet, NY. Two were said to have been relocated to the South Haven Church Cemetery (#4). If a third was moved there, it has not been identified.

William H. Corwin and his wife Philothea were said to have been originally interred in this cemetery. The stones were reportedly moved to the South Haven Church cemetery following vandalism that occurred to the family plot in the 1930's. The bodies reportedly were not moved. This would explain why their stones were not recorded in a 1925 South Haven Church cemetery inventory, but were recorded in a 1938 survey.

An undated manuscript was found in the records of the Town of Brookhaven Historian which appears to be an inventory of the headstones in this cemetery. By the time of the c. 1939 Town of Brookhaven Historian's inventory there apparently were no headstones present. Based on the manuscript inventory, the last interment in the cemetery was in 1933 (although the entry for N. Clinton Miller is suspect). This suggests a manuscript date of between 1933 and 1939, and the cemetery's abandonment during the same time period.

The notations -- "Cem. 21 (80)" -- at the top of the page (in what appears to be a different hand) suggest that the inventory was perhaps done by a knowledgeable contemporary person documenting gravestones already at the Oaklawn Cemetery. However, not all the stones on the inventory can today be found at Oaklawn.

With Marty Van Lith, I visited the original site in 2003. The area is deep within the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. It is now overgrown and reforested. There were two, perhaps three, deep depressions suggesting exhumation. Otherwise there was no evidence of gravesites. This site has Archeological Site Ref. ID SH07.1-S and is #80 on the c. 1939 Town of Brookhaven Historian's Cemetery inventory.

Entry revised; 7 December 2007

Cemetery Photos

Thumb

Description

1

#080.00 Inventory of Homan Private Cemetery... this inventory was found in the files of the Town of Brookhaven Historian's Office and photocopied November, 2007. It appears to be an inventory of the headstones. If the information is accurate, it must have been taken after 1933 when the last interrment appears to have been made (N. Clinton Miller) and c. 1939 when the Town Historian reported that the cemetery was abandonded and no headstones were visible. Some question whether N. Clinton Miller was actually originally interred in this cemetery.